1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method by which an image is formed by developing a latent image formed on a photosensitive body using a liquid developer containing a toner and a carrier, transferring such a developer onto a medium such as a recording sheet, and fusing and fixing a toner image on the medium.
2. Related Art
Various wet type image forming apparatuses have been proposed in which a latent image is developed using a high-viscosity liquid developer obtained by dispersing a toner containing solid elements in a liquid solvent, and an electrostatic latent image is made visible. The developer used in such a wet type image forming apparatus is obtained by suspending solid contents (toner particles) in a high-viscosity organic solvent (a carrier liquid) which is made of silicon oil, mineral oil, cooking oil, or the like and has an electric insulation property. The toner particles have a diameter of about 1 μm which is significantly minute. Since the wet type image forming apparatus uses such minute toner particles, it can provide a higher quality image in comparison to a dry type image forming apparatus which uses powder toner particles having a diameter of about 7 μm. For example, the image forming apparatus using such a liquid developer disclosed in JP-A-2002-156839 includes: an image forming device which forms an electrostatic latent image on an image supporting body; a developing device which develops the electrostatic latent image on the image supporting body using a liquid developer obtained by dispersing developer particles in a solvent to make a visible image; an intermediate transfer medium which abuts on the image supporting body to transfer the visible image on the image supporting body thereto; a transfer device which has a backup member that abuts on the intermediate transfer medium and transfers the visible image on the intermediate transfer medium to a transfer target body by pressing the transfer target body to the intermediate transfer medium using the backup member; a determination device which determines the type of the transfer target body to which the visible image is transferred by the transfer device; and a control device which variably controls a pressure force applied to the transfer target body by the backup member depending on the type of the transfer target body determined by the determination device.
The image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2002-156839 includes the backup member that abuts on the intermediate transfer medium and a pressing member for pressing the transfer target body to the intermediate transfer medium using the backup member. However, the applicant proposes that a recessed portion be provided in a member corresponding to the backup member of the image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2002-156839 and a transfer material gripping mechanism for gripping a transfer material be disposed in the recessed portion. In this case, there was a problem that it does not appropriately operate just by providing the pressing member of the backup member when the corresponding recessed portion and the intermediate transfer medium face each other.